Zoom 506 Bass Effects

a ver...todos dicen cosas en ingles, yo dare mi opinion en espa?ol: la verdad es que para mi me fue muy facil a prender a usar esta pedalera, incluso puedo editar ( si tuviera un problema) en vivo.

tiene algunos efectos realmente buenos, como el reverb, el slap y el chorus, pero hay otros de verdad muy malos, las distorciones se notan muy digitales y el wha es demasiado sintetico, la verdad es que me hice un solo efecto y ese utilizo siempre, como pre amp es bueno.

yo toco Rock, Funk, Blues and Baladas y la verdad es que cuando no lo he llevado a alguna "tocata" lo he hechado de menos, se nota la falta de el y eso que tengo un buen amp (trace elliot) y 2 bajos muy buenos un Fender Jazz y un Washburn de 5 cuerdas

Quite easy. This is a "one-much-little-none-parameter" effect's edition process. The manual is clear.

I used a cheap Washburn Lyon "Precision Bass" copy (with a cheap single coil pickup) through a Peavey TKO 115. It was noisy, but it did a great job. Then I sold these gear to get a Fender American Standard Jazz Bass V and a Marshall Bass State B65 combo. The little bastard cut the signal. It sounds better bypassed than in a clean path, and even bypassed it was too noisy. Quite disappointing. It converts the analog signal into a 16 bit digital signal, killing the sound of the fender's pickups. I'm waiting for a Digitech RP200 (24 bit converter) to test it, but I think I'll rather get analog units. If your bass has bad pickups, this little bastard will help a lot. Get a noise gate.

Well, it's plastic. But it's too noisy to gig with it only. Anyway, it seems to be a hard plastic stuff.

All I know is that Zoom is a japanese corp. Dot.

This is a too general purpose box. It will fit well if playing music is your hobbie. If the music pays your bills, get something better. If it were stolen, I would be sorry for the thief. He probably would return it to me with some money to buy another thing. Just joking, it's not that bad.

It's very easy to use and to get the hang of it. Editing is easy but you should read the manual since it's fairly good and simple.

I have an ibenez TR-300 bass that i connect (in this order) to a Dixon Metal Rocker followed by the Zoom followed by a Danelectro Tremolo. It has many basic fx however they dont sound too true. I mean they are too round and perfect in some cases and in others they sound like something out of an weird science fiction film. What I want to say is that they were hammered in there. The Fuzz (despite not being able to enhance the harmonics the way i want) and the Vintage distortions are among my favourite fx in here together with the delay. I also use the wah because i dont have a separate wah. You can do funny and consistent things with the rest but be careful to balance the sound well. It can sound lousy to vintage purists and sometimes it really does but if you explore it you can do something funny. It makes a slight pause when you change the effect; this is a BIG minus.

You can depend on it an use it on a gig despite being made of plastic. Be careful with the buttons on the side. When you change effect it makes a slight pause as i mentioned earlier.

I play the blues-punk and rock and roll mostly. What i do with this is to try to use one effect on a song and change the sound with outside effects such as a distortion, wah, tremolo etc. I believe it's the best exit to the problem that this device poses when you want to change effect or turn it on. It's very good for beginners not only for it's price but also for the variety of effects it offers. It has the basics.

Well, I bought this little guy used without a manual last year. And I must say it doesn't take much to learn how to edit patches. You can always go online and get the manual in PDF form, which I did anyway. At the moment I can't figure out why I need to activate an effect each time I switch to it. It never used to it. Oh well, it makes no difference in quality of sound.

I'm using this box with my Carvin LB20, through a Peavey Basic 60 (woo-hoo!). Eventually I'll upgrade, but as it stands, this set-up sounds pretty good. Since the Basic 60 sounds pretty average on it's own, this pedal makes a world of difference. On two of the clean settings (B2 and E2), my amp sounds like I paid and extra $300 for it. The 506 acts as a sweet equalizer in these modes, and can really help those with mediocre amps. I disagree with many of the folks here who said the distortion is weak. I like it, and I can find uses for it. This box was used in both practice and band settings, and it sounded great at all volumes. I play with picks, fingers, and slapping, and the pedal performed well.

Don't use batteries in this thing unless you are on-stage. I couldn't believe how fast battery-power is drained by this little devil. I'm using an a/c adapter from my cordless drill, and it works fine. So, it's pretty easy to find something that will power this thing. Apart from my unit changing how it operates on me (2 stomps instead of the original 1), I have no other complaints. Even though it's made of plastic, it's pretty sturdy. Learn about it's limitations on your own, and it's all good.

Never had to use customer service, but if I did, I'm sure it would be fast (zoom, get it?).

I've played MANY different types of music, and I wish I had this thing from the time I first picked up a bass almost 10 years ago. As a musician who's drifited from band to band, style to style, I can't stress enough how important a versitle unit like this is. I was skeptical when I first tried it out, but after playing it for over a year, I'm so happy I bought it. The 506 has really improved how my little rig sounds, and it's hella-fun just to toy around and play with the effects when you're bored. It's far from perfect, the cumbersome bank movement is a bummer. Also, it'll be quickly surpassed by more expensive units as the player moves on in life. Regardless, I luv mine. As a side note, it also sounds pretty good with a guitar running through it. So check this thing out if you're in the market for an inexpensive, versitile floor unit.

Anyboy capable of using his right foot should have no problem at all. However, sometimes I like to tweak effects live which is quite frustrating having to bend over and fiddle around with the edit/store keys. The volume is fiddly too, and I had to fork out more money to buy a matching expression/ volume pedal

I use the 506 with a Yamaha 5 stringer and a Calsbro 400W Custom Amp. Before you my this pedal remember : It is *VERY* noisy when played at high volumes(ie with a full blown band),especially with the distortions, slap effects and flangers.
Chorus is not bad, but ended up buying a seperate chorus pedal due to its lack of flexibility (how can C1-C9,c1-c9 describe all the possible configurations of chorus?).
The Amp Simulator is absolute rubbish, as well as the noise reduction unit, you can really see how gimmicky they are in the first place.
The octaver is a bit muddy. I like the reverb/delay effects and the synth and funzz are fun especially when playing around with artifical harmonics. Nothing's really special, but for those who don't really use effects very much it's not bad. I am however, starting to have doubts on the tuner.

Never failed me. Just treat it as you would treat your bass. Don't drop it, spill liquids, jmp on it etc etc.
Use an AC adaptor AND battery for gigs (funnily enough , my ac adaptor fails me quite frequently)

You get what you pay for : a couple of "general" effects and a few gimmicks. I play mostly progressive metal, but I play just about everything I get my hands on. It serves me well, but I don't use effects heavily : just a bit of reverb, delay and thin fuzz
I've been playing for 4 years and I own another 2 single effects boxes (Distortion and Chorus/Flanger)
If it were stolen or lost, I would probably buy a few single stomp boxes, since they still serve my purpose quite well.
I love the fact that it offers a fair range of effects. I hate the fact that most of these effects are utter tripe at the best of times. This is NOT a pedal for bass effects pioneers.
Unfortunatly even the cheapest single stomp box available on the outperforms the 506 in its field. I wouldn't even dare compare it to Digitech's and DOD's multieffects let alone a studio rack, but anyway, its cheap.
I wish it had finer control of effects.
It definitly, doesn't get in the way, just don;t exaggerate.
REMEMBER : THE QUALITY OF WHAT YOU GET IS DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL TO HOW MUCH YOU PAY

Theres nothing to it unless ur dumb as a carrot. After getting it out of the box and reading the manual, you are ready to go, unless of course if this is your first fxpedal and your not familiar whats a distortion is and what to step on.

-i love the reverbs and the chorus, for the price i paid this is really god damn cheap!
- the distortions are not that good, i like the fuzz and the vintage one though.
- The ZNR is uneffective, it really has some hissing sounds
- the Wah settings is not that good also

its pretty dependable, just buy an adaptor so that you can play without thinking about power lay off from the unit cause this unit really eats batteries like most people here say!

The unit comes with predefined patches and some of them are very nice but most are not my thing. There are a few sound downright lousy. However, reading over the user manual and you can quickly learn to change the patches and adjust the sounds with ease. Don't try this on stage though; that's not the place to set this unit up. The tuner is also very easy to use. I purchased an AC adapter because this thing eats batteries. When using the battery mode you must unplug it when not using it as it has no on/off switch which is a pain. The AC adapter was 20 bucks but worth what I would pay in alkaline batteries.

I have used this device with a small practice amp, headphones and a big rig; an Ampeg SVT III. Many of the sounds are usable and some are weak. The chorus, phase, echo, reverb and fuzz are great but some of the others are not good at all.

The main problem I have with the sound is that is is very noisy (hissing). The unit comes with a ZNR (Zoom Noise Reduction) but it is ineffective. I also have a graphic equilizer on my Ampeg but it cannot do the job either. That gives you an idea how noisy it is. As a result, I would never use it on stage unless I was using the fuzz or distortions when the noise is part of the play.

I have had this unit for two years now and not long ago one of the patch buttons began to stick. It still works but on occasion it will go hay wire and display all of the patches continuously

I did contact them about the noise problem. They were prompt but they told me to use the ZNR and that would do it but they were wrong on this count.

Overall all this is not a good unit for playing out. It is great for practicing and playing around with different sounds at home but that's it. Again it's biggest problem is noise and lack of an on/off switch.
I would recommend this unit if you can get it used for a few bucks and us it at home. You can get a good AC adapter at Radio Shack for 4 bucks and it works just as well as the 20 buck unit.

If lost or stolen I would maybe buy another if I could buy one used for a dirt cheap price.

Its not that hard to set up, the pre-sets are mostly week

well if you are playing threw a small 25-50 practice amp not to bad...but when I hook it up to my Ampeg B-4r (1000+watts) head threw my 2x15 swr cab It sucks nuts!! The Corus and Flange are ok but week, the the octuve effect is ok but on the E and B strings of my Ibanez EDB-605 it muddys..

Just becarefull with it

N/A

I got mine for free...I would not pay $20 for it

Must Play Around With it To Get Good Sound
Very Easy To Edit Patches
Excellently Detailed And Basic To Undertand

Deville Percision Copy 20Watt Practice Amp
Good Sounding
Sound Good All The Time
20 Watt Sabre Amp
Distortions arn't very flash. Wah Is Good

Good If You Treat It Good. Flog The Arse Out Of It And It Will Die
Yes I Would

All Sorts.
2 Years
Yes I woluld
The Fact it is Easy to use. The fact it has lots of plastic in it. The easy editing functions.
Yes another zoom product. It was on special and the fact it was $300 cheaper
Crybaby, fender bass and a big amp
Hepls to make music
Buy one it is a good unit if you use and trat it right.

pretty easy to use, but I don't like the fact that you have to use the cord supplied with the expression pedal. I love monster cables and mine wouldn't work with it. Otherwise the pedal is pretty easy.

Very poor sound.I use an Ibanez 6 through a seymour duncan head into 2 15's and 8 12's. This little plastic toy is very noisy and the effects are useless.

Absolutely not. This unit is made of plastic! I tried to gig with it once and the noise was too much.

I play a variety of music and this works with none of them. I bought this unit when I was young(and dumb!)I feel that I have refined my musical tastes enough to say NO to poor quality effects. This toy as I said before is not a good choice for effects. I feel that if you want to use effects than use good ones. Yes they are a bit pricey but isn't your sound worth it?